Mbeki questions Selebi investigation

Former president Thabo Mbeki publicly questioned the National Prosecuting Authority's investigation of former police commissioner Jackie Selebi.

Former president Thabo Mbeki publicly questioned the National Prosecuting Authority's investigation of former police commissioner Jackie Selebi, City Press reported on Sunday.

Mbeki wrote a tribute to Selebi, who died last week, which was read out as his funeral in Pretoria on Saturday.

In the tribute, read out by veteran diplomat Welile Nhlapo, Mbeki reportedly alluded to elements in the country's law enforcement agencies who, he said, plotted to have Selebi unseated as commissioner.

"On June 14, 2013, at least one of our newspapers quoted as article under the heading: 'Agliotti: It was me or Selebi'," Mbeki wrote in his tribute.

"The newspaper quoted Mr Glenn Agliotti as having said: 'In fact, when the Scorpions took me in the foyer of my own house, the officers said I am arresting you for the murder of Brett Kebble and then said that if you give up that top cop Jackie Selebi, we will give you a section 204 immunity. I asked if I do, who are you going to arrest for killing Kebble then? That's how obvious the whole plot was that it was never about me, it was never about Kebble, it was a feud between one law enforcement agency wanting to bring down the most powerful policeman in Africa'."

Selebi died last Friday aged 64. He had reportedly suffered from diabetes and kidney problems.

He was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment on August 3, 2010, for taking bribes from Agliotti.

The former head of Interpol started serving his sentence in 2011, after being found guilty of corruption in 2010. He was released from Pretoria central prison on medical parole less than a year later.

Mbeki reportedly also said he was pleased to read that the NPA was conducting an internal investigation regarding Selebi's prosecution.

"It's my fervent hope that the NPA really does indeed carry out an honest and thorough investigation into this matter, and not bury it simply because Jackie will have been buried," he wrote.

SAPA

August 2017

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